Wheres the game?

Discussion in 'New Player Welcome' started by Mixxle Flix, May 26, 2018.

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  1. Mixxle Flix

    Mixxle Flix Avatar

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    I really don't mean this to be just a rant. I'm really hoping this game will be something.

    As many on this game I'm an old UO player with a lot of GM characters sitting at a bank somewhere on some shard last I seen!

    I logged into this game about 2 weeks ago, leveled a toon to 43 so far, worked with the decks, and the crafting engine. I just don't see it guys.

    This is NOT UO! the only thing I see in common with the game is the lame attempt at the virtue system. Really? Thats whats driving the prices listed on the lots and housing? The taxes? Are you guys actullay trying to deter people from playing? Is this just a rich persons version of the game?

    Where's he tamers? The treasure hunters? Every damn game on the internet has mages and warriors for crying out loud! Tamers and Tresure hunters is the only thing I can recall that made UO different from ALL THE OTHER GAMES WITH BETTER MECHANICS...

    Where's the social network at Haven Bank, or Luna? In UO you could be involved and participate without having to belong to a click just by sitting at the freaking bank. You could run though a gate and land in somebody's event and not have to know anyone. I don't see ANYTHING like that here.

    Seriously? After all the years of playing UO, War Craft, and most of the titles worth mentioning out there, you expect that a huge map of graphics quantifies content?

    I dunno guys...I'm hoping someone can enlighten me on why I would spend the money its going to take to play this game. I was so excited to hear about this game, but never so disappointed as to what I've seen so far.

    I'm extremely impressed by the massive amount of Real Estate in the game but so far its like a HUGGGGGGEEEEEEEE amount of graphics with NOTHING TO DO except look at the same items on every vendor there is.

    I really like the road scenes for farming, but its the most exciting part of the game.

    I wont even go into all the WTF were you guys thinking when you built the program this way, such as bank items only being accessible from the town you deposit in? SERIOUSLY...that's just freaking STUPID!

    Anyway...from an old DIE HARD UO player, Im not even remotely impressed so far. War craft is getting boring but this is just War Craft from early beta.
     
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  2. Vladamir Begemot

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    Hi Foggymission, and welcome!

    Tamers should get a bump next Thursday, as they fixed a problem that was causing their Innate skills to not level.

    Finding people. As a community we need to remember that Looking For Group tool exists and start using it. There are often things going on, but it's impossible to know unless you're following an outside source or it happens to be in the message of the day, UNLESS we all start remembering and using the LFG tool.

    I even said it tonight, during band practice, that we need to put up a public party so people can come hang out if they want. Then I promptly forgot and didn't list it. Sorry.

    I'm sure the dance party right before that had it, but can't be sure, I teleported over because I had a lot of friends that were there already.

    So tomorrow there is the 4th Annual Soldiers Ball

    And the EVL Virtue League PvP Tournament at 4pm Central (fighting starts at 430)

    At night tennish? (Central Time) look for @Brazen Spirituality's pop up flash mob.

    There are probably other things happening which I unfortunately don't know about.

    To find people at random, look in the major cities and market towns. All the starter areas have players in them when I'm there, but of course we have to engage each other. I fished with a fellow at Highvale tonight. Could have just let him be, but I thought some fishing time would be good.

    And if you don't feel like spending anything after you own it, don't. It's entirely possible to make your fortune and earn land entirely in game.

    If you need some help or direction in game feel free to message me, /friend Vladamir Begemot as well.

    Good luck!
     
  3. Kara Brae

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    Hi @Foggymission, it's nice to see you here even if you are disappointed with the game. It's good to have feedback from new players. I never played UO, but by all accounts, you are absolutely right - this game is nothing like it.

    It is true that you won't find the UO kind of social network (meeting lots of strangers hanging out at the bank) that you describe.

    First, the game is instanced, so you may be standing at the bank and your best buddy may be standing there too, but you won't see him because he happens to be in a different instance of the scene. This is incredibly annoying to me, especially when I want to join a party, and the other party members are in a different instance. It is necessary to join the party, log out and log on again to be in the same instance.

    Second, the game is set up to allow players to play in solo mode or in party mode. In those cases, the players are available to chat with but are not visible to other players. A great many players are roaming Novia that you won't see because of this.

    Although these things can be considered to be bad, they have advantages, too. When you enter a scene in Solo or Party mode, you aren't competing with other players for the resources and mobs. Even if you prefer to play in multiplayer mode, if another player is annoying you with his behavior, you needn't flee the scene you are in. You only need to switch to party mode or solo mode, and you won't be bothered any more.

    In SotA there is a great and helpful community, but people rely on their friends list and/or on their guild for a large part of their social interaction. Voice chat on Discord is very common amongst players. A "find group" function was recently added to the game, but I haven't tried it out yet. There are numerous community activities going on in-game, but they are usually scheduled events that you can find in the community calendar. Some players have generated their own quests for others to participate in. You can find them either in the forum and/or in the community part of the monthly newsletter.

    With regard to content - I think there really is a lot to do, but the quest and dialogue system needs an overhaul. I think the Devs have even mentioned that this is on their agenda for the future.

    Taming in this game has had its highs and lows. Recently I have seen only complaints from tamers, so it is to be expected that the Devs will incorporate the feedback they are getting into the taming system. In the early alpha stages of the game, Tamers were the millionaires of the game. Anyone could buy a tamed pet from a Tamer and use it to great effect, and everyone did, including myself. You hardly saw anyone without a tamed pet following them around. Then they changed it so that if you hadn't mastered taming skills yourself, you couldn't summon a tamed pet, and if your taming skills were low, you could only summon low-level pets like bunny rabbits. (I am exaggerating, but basically it was like that.) All of a sudden it became rare to see anyone with a tamed pet. Even now you need a very high level to summon a pet that is relatively powerful. The Devs are still tweaking this skill. Hopefully they will achieve the right balance soon. By the way, it is worth buying an Obsidian Potion of Guidance when crafting anything (like taming collars) which requires expensive resources to make because the potion helps level the skill more quickly, thus saving resources.

    If you stick around some more, you will surely find people to assist you and make the game more enjoyable for you. If you decide, however, this game isn't for you, I wish you success in finding a game that better appeals to you. :)
     
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  4. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    Tamer here. What questions do you have?
     
  5. Elwyn

    Elwyn Avatar

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    You're damn right it's not UO. In particular, it's not UO ten years later after many updates. You simply can't compare a game at "release" (aka a mostly complete first cut) with an MMO that has had multiple expansions.

    And I think one of the things it's lacking in is PvP. I'm not a PvP person, nor did I play UO, but I can still tell that it lacks some important things, particularly a reputation system so that PKs can be identified easily and encourage posse behavior. Also, I think many of the trolls out on the internets who are dissing SotA the hardest are mad that they didn't get full open PvP with a world full of sheep to shear. Yes, the PvP is not great, and by its very nature has some negative effect on the PvE experience, but it's not easy to mix it with PvE, and I think it also has less people who want it, so it's getting less attention. But I can tell that Chris wants it to work, so it's going to get some love eventually.

    And as for where people will hang out (like around the banks in UO), that hasn't settled out yet. Those dynamics probably won't be known for sure until after proper advertising begins and we get a lot more players. Right now I can see people accumulating around the four main towns, though Brittany is more in the surrounding POTs. From my experience in FFXI, it seems that the main aggregators are commerce (where people buy and sell stuff) and grinding (where people meet to go adventuring). By having its "Second Life Lite" social aspect, it seems that player events are also an aggregator for SotA.
    Usually when that happens, you just need to go back to the overworld, and double-click on the shield icon. That should ensure that you get properly put into the same scene as the rest of the party. Yes, it should work without needing to do that, and I expect that will get fixed eventually. Also, the town instance size seems to be just over 100 (I've heard it was 128, so this might be leaving space for matching party members and PvPers), and so far a split rarely happens unless there is an event. When we get to the point where proper advertising begins, then it will probably become an issue. The biggest problem was seen during the Shooter Jennings event, after which I think they added a "VIP" mode where certain players can be set to be seen and heard (one-way) in all the other instances of a town.
     
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  6. Floors

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    Not, in my opinion, the best way to introduce yourself.
     
  7. Drasvar Spiderglum

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    Why is this stupid? You think insta-teleport goods from one end of the map to the other is not stupid? No more Burn Jita ;)
     
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  8. Alleine Dragonfyre

    Alleine Dragonfyre Avatar

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    Agreed. Physical items should remain in the same spot. Do you place your jewels in a safe deposit box uptown and expect them to spawn at a different branch downtown? Also, the bank isn't really meant to be a mass-quantity storage place. It really should be just used for things you consider precious and irreplaceable. Your home is where you store the majority of your items. One trunk holds 300 items!

    I'm not sure when you started playing UO but it did not start out the way you're used to it being AT ALL.

    Want to meet a lot of people? I know someone mentioned my co-worker Brazen's pop-up dances. I broadcast every Friday night and at least 30-50 people come and go during the 4 hours I'm on. If you want to meet people, that among a lot of the many other community events would be the way to go. You could hang around New Brit on the Novia map and strike up some conversations or start a group using the LFG

    Is SoTA a new Ultima Online? No, and it was never meant to be. The wording is "spriritual successor" because it has similarities and is designed by the father of UO. No one ever said it was a modern clone.

    This game as a very small, yet dedicated and hard working development team. They will definitely see this post. It's up to you to word your feedback in a way that isn't mean or flaming if you would like to be taken more seriously. The devs are real people, that come to work every day and try hard to deliver a good game.
     
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  9. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    And we can create our own hangout on the Novia map. Make sure zone is turned on /z and congregate. I occasionally take a few minutes, bring some songs to give out to others, and say hello to other players. I think it's important to come out of my cave to do this sometimes. You never know when that will be the perfect moment for yourself or for someone. I also feel that way about our looking for group.
     
  10. Spinok

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    I dont know, I feel UO smell almost everywhere in SOTA, but its many times larger and better than UO.
     
  11. Tsumo2

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    No problem with the op. Welcome to Novia. There is much more to this game than one might realize.
     
  12. Doctorface

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    Welcome to novia! I see your points entirely and will give you some agreement on a few of them. I've only been here going on two years but in those two years the game has evolved in leaps and bounds. It's important to remember that this world is an ever evolving and growing beast that is being helmed by a surprisingly small group of folks entirely funded off of our backs. Your struggles are not unique. Allow me to extend a hand of friendship, I would be happy to help you find some more content and party up with you from time to time. If you would insist on going solo I can't stop you either,of course. True that,compared to other games of it's ilk, this one feels bare bones but there is a world here for all,should you decide to seek it out. Find places you've not been,explore them, think of the people who built the ruins we find crumbling, think of the plight of those expelled from their homes due to war.

    It takes time to find these things,however as others have said they are there. Once you find it you will wonder how you missed it! After all this time I still find things nestled away in small corners of the world I've never seen before.

    Once more,on behalf of all the members of the Tater Tot Empire, I welcome you to these lands.
     
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  13. Bigg

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    Except this is achieved through recall/teleport scrolls very easily.

    While I agree that localized banking creates a sense of immersion I love. If I fill up my safety deposit box at bank A I fully expect to be able to go to bank b and fill that one as well with different items. The current game system is immersion breaking that you only have x amount of slots in total and is in fact a shared bank across the entire map not just localized.

    I’m in full support of localized banking but I think it should be just that a completely separate and individual bank from any other bank on the map. Slots and all, but that’s just me.
     
  14. Fungus

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    @Foggymission a lot of your points are valid my friend, I'm an old UO player too and get frustrated at many aspects of the game that seem to pander towards certain play styles.

    I agree 1000% that localised banking is ridiculous but again as you will have read peoples replies above, some absolutely love it though from my own perspective it's a right royal pain in the backside and detracts from what i actually want to do, so much so I've now nothing in any bank across Novia bar the stupid reward stuff I'm not allowed to put in my own property that basically will just rot.

    Oh for treasure hunting abilities like in UO days, that for me bar kraken hunting or monstering through a dungeon was one of my all time favourite things to do with my pet dragons. Gate travel is a royal pain, standing around waiting on it to change when you'd be 3/4 way there in time takes to get to one you want, best solution is to play in multiplayer mode and accept the friend invites that come your way so you can 'hopefully' have someone to teleport to that's at scene you want or is close by to said area. Do people interact more in multiplayer mode? not that I've experienced yet, but that may be partly because of my guild tag but at the weekend I tried again and made 'three new friends' of which none that actually introduced themselves, waved etc. but purely to teleport to me potentially for reasons above.

    On the plus side if you like exploring and seeing stuff though there's tons to do, I backed game from the start and still dip here there and everywhere hunting out nuggets developers have made. Crafting is fun but takes a ton of materials and you really have to explore to get affordable gear unlike other games with the auction house in every town that instantly helps new people progress and stay within a game much longer IMHO. I'm now in the process of making gear that's cheap and cheerful so I can go PvP and not care about bounty payments so there's a purpose to crafting, lots of folks craft their own gear or do it cheap for friends so market slow on the resale and usually high end stuff so stuffs new folks from the get go. Some guilds will however give you some gear love when you advance but usually you have to join one for said love, not everyone's thing, one guild purportedly charges you 1,000g to join just to show your committed to the game, funny as fudge that one to me but I'm sure if you play a lot you'd make that back tenfold fairly soon with a guild group for sure.

    PvP is getting some love in July patch, but many players don't care either way and instantly dismiss anyone with that tag as a troll etc. either in game or on the forums as spoiling their fun. Controversial but IMHO multiplayer should be 100% PvP and if you want to avoid it stay in solo or party mode, it won't happen though as majority of the big money backers are PvP averse and money will always talk louder. Yes there would be a surge in killing to begin with but a bit like real life we all run a daily risk of being wiped out by a nutter in a car or with a knife or gun though again I appreciate this suggestion could potentially damage game population with the anti PvP folks downing dancing clogs, weapons and crafting tools en mass.

    Emotes and dance parties might be your thing? Seems to be for a lot of players in game at present and a hot topic on the forums, personally as I've stated previously I'd rather stick pins in my eyes, as other threads many players have stated they're are looking for high end content suitable for groups which would be a much more efficient way to keep people interested in the game long term. Currently within the guild we get frustrated at not being able to do content as a group purely as far more efficient to solo now at higher levels with spawn rates. this is after starting out as a full group to then slowly whittle down number of us in per instance to manage the exp gains properly so as not to waste time and energy. We're not even spending our exp pools which vary from 5 to 30million until patch later this week, as again far more efficient to do so when you can cap exp / hr solo in the Rise or Krul in conjunction with obsidian potion, buffs & food as games grinding enough as it is.

    re Housing, again I think your right, taxes are nuts, solution? not many tbh but if you want somewhere free to place a property then either msg @E n v y or send him a message in game on Captain Fabulous, we are Europeans that have an affiliation with a US guild but don't expect you to join the guild to have a slot within the town, as I said free to drop a house down or just a couple of chests for your gear if you don't have a house deed. we don't care if your on at completely different times to us, it just gives you a base without the hassle of banks.

    Worth staying around? I think many points of frustration will be rectified in time, it's whether you can personally wait that long or put leveling on hold and come back in 6months time with renewed vigor? The choice therefore is yours but I'm in it for the long haul but will know doubt dip out for a couple of months in the summer.
     
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